U.S. Department of Ed releases Civil Rights, Educational Equity report

In November, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights released a report describing OCR’s progress and activity over the last four years on civil rights enforcement and educational equity.

The report, “Helping to Ensure Equal Access to Education,” describes how OCR has transformed its enforcement approach to better promote and advance educational equity for all students, while maximizing the office’s efficiency and impact, even as the number of complaints received by OCR has grown by almost a quarter over the last four years. OCR both received and resolved more than 28,500 complaints during this time period.

The report also discusses OCR’s work to:
• support the equal rights of students to a safe school environment and to resources and programs they need to be prepared for college and careers;
• revamp the Civil Rights Data Collection to provide educators and the public with a clearer picture of the “equity health” of schools; and
• align its efforts with President Obama’s goal of restoring this nation’s position as a global leader in the proportion of college graduates by 2020, by improving educational equity and excellence.

The report also documents a range of systemic improvements OCR has made in how it operates.

Click here to access the report.